Our treatment of pests in our gardens should be considered carefully rather than running to the chemical section and grabbing the first thing we can get our hands on!  The development of good insects, like butterflies, ladybugs, praying mantis and honey bees, are all influenced by the environment.  By simply incorporating plants that attract these insects into our gardens, we will aid in their development significantly.  An example of this would be Butterfly weed (asclepias) which the caterpillar eats, the crysalis' are attatched to and then the butterfly drinks the nectar of. Ladybugs lay their eggs on roses so that when the pupae hatch they can search for their favorite food, which, by the way, are APHIDS!!  The prescence of insects in your garden shows that the environment is strong enough to support development and control on its own without too much help from us! 

We hope that this section is helpful in the identification as well as the control of predatory and beneficial insects in your gardens!

Aphids are insects with sucking mouth parts that draw the juices out of plants.  They are small insects, sometimes with wings and sometimes without depending on the stage of their development, and they hatch from eggs laid on the underside of leaves.  The adolescents have a voracious appetite and can cause immediate damage before we are even aware of a problem.  These insects are particularly drawn to the new growth on plants, shrubs and trees because that part of the plant is the most tender and succulent.  To irradicate these insects, spray them with a strong stream of water to knock them off the plant or use a bioinsecticide made from plant oils and soaps that will help eliminate this pest iwthout causing damage to the plant or the environment.

Cicadas and locusts are larger insects with wings and big eyes that live in the ground for a year to 7 or even 14 years before they come out again.  They are pretty amazing how they can stay dormant for such long periods of time and when you think about the length of the dormancy period, you can understand the devastion they create because of how hungry they are when they come out of their dormancy period.  Click on the bold word above to learn more about this insect.

Earwigs are another insect that has pinchers on the hind end of their body and are slender and hard bodied. Earwigs feed on dead and live insects as well as dead and live plant material.  They are harmless to humans, even though the old wives tale was that they would crawl in your ears when you were sleeping and bore into the brain!  The forceps, or pinchers, are used for dragging or cathcing food and not to cause harm.  Click on the bold word above to learn more about these insects.

Japanese Beetles are a very common problem and many homeowners become distressed by this pest.  They begin as a grub in our lawns and feed on the soft roots of the grass and other plants under the soil where we can't see thema nd don't know they are there until the damage is done!  Once them emerge and become the recognizable beetle, they destroy trees, shrubs, vegetables, flowers, etc.  There are powders, traps, sprays and several home remedies to irradicate this pest.  If using traps that have pheromones, or sexual scents that attract the insect, be usre to place them away from your problem area so as to attract the insects away from where they are a problem.  Bioinsecticides are also very effective.  Click on the bold word above to learn more about this insect.

 Ladybugs are a great insect to have int he garden, as we mentioned above.  They help to control other harmful insects and that in turn helps to prevent death and disease on the plants in your garden.  Click on the bold word above and you can learn some more interesting facts about ladybugs!

Slugs are an insect many of us are familiar with because they leave a slimy trail wherever they go and tend to come out when the weather is damp.  There are so many methods to rids gardens and yards of this pest!  Some people like to shake a little salt on them and watch them disintegrate, some people like to put out pie pans of beer amd catch them, some folks use chemical crystals on the ground that the slugs crawl over and pick up.  Many ideas for eliminating this creature.  They do cause plant damage and so that makes the need to eliminate them more pressing for us.  Ducks, chickens and geese will eat slugs if you have the pleasure of raising any of these animals.  Click on the bold word above to learn more about this pest.